


I'll See You Again in the Black and White

by susieboo



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Canon Compliant, F/M, Lex Foster Has the Trauma, One Shot, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Sad Ending, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23054647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/susieboo/pseuds/susieboo
Summary: Or, Lex finds out what happened to Ethan.[Basically, the soul-crushing scene we all secretly wanted but didn't get. Lex/Ethan. Oneshot. Sad sad sad.]
Relationships: Lex Foster/Ethan Green
Comments: 6
Kudos: 80





	I'll See You Again in the Black and White

**Author's Note:**

> Boy, isn't it great that the ending of _Black Friday_ was a silly joke and that soon, we'll get the director's cut where we find out Ethan miraculously recovered from his injuries, reunited with Lex and Hannah, took them to California, and is currently happy, healthy, and alive?
> 
> Such fun! Such whimsy! I'm not crying at all!

Had anyone else delivered the news, Lex probably wouldn't have believed them, not at first. No, she would've gone into denial like a turtle goes into its shell, and told herself whatever she had to in order to believe that Ethan Green was still alive and with them.

But, while Hannah was a lot of things, she wasn't a liar.

Lex had been so caught up in the whole thing - the crazy cult, ghost-apparition-whatever handing her a goddamn gun, lighting a mall on fire thing - that she almost forgot about Ethan. But finally, as they watched the Hatchetfield Mall burn to the ground - good fucking riddance - she finally thought to ask. And almost wished she hadn't as soon as she got her answer.

"Ethan's gone," Hannah said, unable to meet her eyes. "Webby told me. Wiggly tried to send a bad double to trick me. But I knew it wasn't Ethan. I knew..."

Lex squeezed her eyes shut - to avoid getting smoke in them, of course, the tears were secondary. "A... double..." She didn't know why that was the first thing she could say, it just slipped out.

Hannah nodded. "Something came out of the Black and White... the bad double said he'd protect me--like Ethan tried to--"

"What happened?"

When she opened her eyes again, she'd find Hannah now looking at her, looking sad and tired and young and so, so sorry. "Don't know. He's just gone now."

Lex nodded. "Okay." She forced the word out. "Okay."

But it wasn't okay - it wasn't even close. In the space of the few seconds it took for the news to sink in - _Ethan is dead_ \- a thousand memories flashed across her mind.

They'd met in sixth grade. In a way, she'd grown up with him. Detention at Hatchetfield Middle School wasn't exactly run like a well-oiled machine, so it'd been easy enough for the two of them had send notes back and forth. Somewhere, back in the trailer, buried at the bottom of her dresser drawer but still never going to be thrown out, Lex still had the first message he'd slipped to her when the teacher's back was turned: _What r u in 4?_ So the first thing she'd learned was that Ethan Green was the type to use texting abbreviations even when he wasn't using his phone. The second she'd learned, after responding that she was in for blowing off gym class, was that Ethan was in for breaking a microscope in science class.

Over the years, she'd learned countless other things. Ethan thought _Grease_ was like real life, and started dressing the part as soon as he could. He practically worshipped his car, a beaten-up jalopy he'd bought for cheap off Craigslist. He hated his dad and his stepmother, but barely knew his mother, who'd left to "find herself" when he was seven or eight, and had never found herself back in Hatchetfield. He liked kids and hoped to have a couple himself.

And he loved her. He'd told her so when they were barely twelve, and she'd laughed at him. But still accepted his offer of going to the pool together later that day.

Lex knew she wasn't always the easiest person to date, but Ethan had dealt with a whole hell of a lot. From listening to Lex rant and vent about everything her mother did, to being an impromptu babysitter for Hannah, he'd accepted it with (mostly) good grace. Even when their on-off relationship was in an "off" phase - they weren't really able to maintain a consistent "on" phase until sophomore year - he could be relied upon.

And now, now, so many plans had been wrecked. It wasn't that she still thought California was an option - not for a _good_ long while, anyway - but as long as she thought Ethan was still alive, she'd had contingency plans.

Somewhere, across the Black and White, in a different world, a different, better Hatchetfield, Ethan was by her side, and they were planning their next move, watching together as the flames consumed the cult and all the chaos they'd wrought. Somewhere, Ethan was asking if she wanted to go to the trailer to check on her mom, and she was saying no, they needed to just hit the road right _now_. They were taking Hannah, running to the jalopy, and flooring it the hell out of Hatchetfield.

Maybe the nukes were still coming there, too. But Lex would gladly trade places with the Lex in that Hatchetfield any day of the week. She'd much rather face the apocalypse with Ethan than without him.

When was the last time she'd told him she loved him? She couldn't remember. She hated that she couldn't remember.

Maybe it was when he'd first found a buyer for the Wiggly doll - they'd thought they were cleaning up at $500, if only they knew. Or maybe it was when he first floated the idea of California, back in her junior year, just after he got expelled, just before she flunked.

She'd thought he was kidding at first.

But he wasn't. When it came to her and Hannah and their future, she'd learned, Ethan rarely fucked around.

He'd offered them a chance. A way out. A new start, and they'd be their own little family.

And somewhere else, that had happened.

But not here.

Here, things pretty much fucking sucked.

There was still so much she didn't understand. What had made every adult in the country go crazy over an ugly little doll, so much that they'd rip each other to shreds over it?

What _was_ the Black and White, and what happened there?

Why her?

Why _Ethan_?

But there were some things she _did_ understand.

First, that the world was ending.

Second, that there was nowhere she and Hannah could hide, nowhere that would shield them in time.

Third, that wherever Ethan was now, there was a very real, very definite possibility that she'd be seeing him again soon.

As everyone huddled around Mr. Houston outside of the burning mall, waiting for midnight, she couldn't help but find some humor in the fact that the world was about to end, and yet this was the calmest anyone had been in... _ever_ , probably. It was weird, the sense of clarity that impending doom could bring you. Maybe they should have civilization-ending catastrophes more often.

Why weren't they moving? Why weren't they running? Why weren't they crying?

"Fifteen seconds left."  
"Nine."  
"Seven."  
"Five."  
"Three."  
"Two."  
"What if tomorrow--?"

The sky lit up, and the noise was deafening, and Lex closed her eyes, and she hugged Hannah close to her, and she tried to think of what she'd say to Ethan when she saw him.

**Author's Note:**

> In conclusion, Ethan Green was a good egg who didn't deserve to die. I... sad.
> 
> Comments and kudos ease the pain better than vodka, or so I'm told.


End file.
